Refused veiwing of the new book

[shelfunit.]

I can't see the point in preventing someone looking through a book in a shop. If they start doing this what is the point of buying the book in the shop in the first place? If I am buying blind then I'd rather do it on the internet with a decent discount. I'd write a letter to headoffice and see if they can "re-program" the sales person to improve his sales techniques.

[xxRavenxx]

I can't see the point in preventing someone looking through a book in a shop. If they start doing this what is the point of buying the book in the shop in the first place? If I am buying blind then I'd rather do it on the internet with a decent discount. I'd write a letter to headoffice and see if they can "re-program" the sales person to improve his sales techniques.

To repeat my earlier comment:

It is to prevent damage. The last thing a retailer wants is people leafing through all the books and damaging them. If you *need* to look in one before buying it, ask a staff member if you can "sample" it before your purchase. Ie, politely ask to look.

Grab it and leaf through? Don't be surprised when someone tells you to put it down.

Remember the old addage "the customer is always right"?

It should read: "The customer always thinks he's right. But hes not."

[EmperorNorton]

I can't see the point in preventing someone looking through a book in a shop. If they start doing this what is the point of buying the book in the shop in the first place? If I am buying blind then I'd rather do it on the internet with a decent discount. I'd write a letter to headoffice and see if they can "re-program" the sales person to improve his sales techniques.

Frankly, looking through a book is the only benefit a physical bookstore gives you over ordering online. They sure as hell won't tell their customers they are not allowed to do that. And I've never been to a bookstore where I had to ask first, either.
Not sure why GW is supposed to be different in this scenario.

[Griefbringer]

My local indie store (which stocks also RPGs, novels, comics etc.) has never had any issues with people leafing through the books in the store. Though once there was a case where a customer had been taking a rather extended look at a single book, and a staff member politely mentioned to the customer that he could perhaps consider buying the book and finish reading it at home.

I do not recall having seen any books ending up getting damaged due to this practice. Perhaps the local customers know how to handle the store products properly?

BTW: I once actually spotted out a misprinted book (several of the pages were blank), and passed that to the staff who put it aside for a reclamation from the manufacturer.

[thesheriff]

Frankly, looking through a book is the only benefit a physical bookstore gives you over ordering online. They sure as hell won't tell their customers they are not allowed to do that. And I've never been to a bookstore where I had to ask first, either.

Not sure why GW is supposed to be different in this scenario.

Anouther thing id like to add to this, you can go into any shop and pick up objects, even delicate things such as glass i havent been stopped from picking up in certain shops.

I think a policy of "you break it you buy it" is good in this sense, as it gives recorse.

For example, I once had a friend who was looking through a codex and accidentally tore one of teh pages. In response, instead of simple placing the book in the back, he walked up to the staff member, explained what had happened, and bought it. No issue was made, and I think this attitude is completly fair.

Something like this could circum-navigate this whole situation completly (if you looking at it from a purley stock-damage reason for limiting customer veiwing).

[stroller]

It's not a "new" policy. This sufaces every so often. It mostly seems to be linked to circumstance. The store's quiet. "Do you mind if I..." "Sure, no problem." The store's full. The staff are busy. I grab a book off the shelf and don't head for the counter. "Ahem....". The other times I've seen it it's been part of "can I borrow your glue? can I borrow your clippers can I borrow your dice tape measure templates codex..... " Sooner or later "No" is appropriate.

[xxRavenxx]

I think a policy of "you break it you buy it" is good in this sense, as it gives recorse.

How does the staff member prove that you tore the page, or broke the spine, and not the person before you?

More so, how well do you think the average gamer takes a statement along the lines of: "you damaged this, I insist you purchase it." I'll give you a clue: Not well.

I know that its nice to browse a book. As a store owner I'd let pretty much anyone who asked (who didn't come across as "bad news"), but I'd take exception when someone starts looking through books, or worse, opening boxes. (I've had customers slit the tape on games so they can try to look inside.)


Oh, and a further concern for in a GW store: You pick up the book, you walk about with it a bit, maybe mark the pages to make it look more used, you subtly peel off the sticker. You then tell them "oh no, this is mine, I brought it in with me, for gaming here." What do they do now?

[The Ape]

I picked up the new empire book yesterday-I deliberately picked one up from the back to avoid anyone else having fingered it, (the whole point of this policy) and as I'm stood at the till, the other staff member comes over and starts thumbing through it. Very rude!

[Max Jet]

Just picking a random book off a shelf and reading it is poor form

Why?

Don't know about the area the OP comes from, but where I live you can pick any book you want from

a) any book store (of which there are 10)
b) any specialised book store keeping scripts and things like that for university
c) even the Games Workshop and hobby stores.

I grew up 20 years with the freedom to go to any place I want and take a look at anything I could be interested in.

Somehow people in my area must belong to the very rare breed of civilized people who know how to handle a book they don't own?

For example, I once had a friend who was looking through a codex and accidentally tore one of teh pages. In response, instead of simple placing the book in the back, he walked up to the staff member, explained what had happened, and bought it. No issue was made, and I think this attitude is completly fair.

Very well done by your friend, very poorly done by the staff. There is something called insurance, this is why I never had to pay something I broke in the supermarket despite insisting on it. I learned about it during a part time job.

[Yodhrin]

Never encountered that myself. Can see some reasons for and against. Seems kinda extreme though. I run a chain retail store and one of the things we talk about with marketting is touch points. If a customer is able to touch a product and hold it they are more likely to want it and therefore buy it. I thought that was pretty simple marketing though. Sometimes i honestly feel bad for GW. So many of their policies are just backwards from the way the rest of the retail world is heading and they don't even realize it. They need to go and spend the money and hire a marketing person who has previously worked for a big company. The company I work for seems to go after people from Victoria Secret and our products are nothing alike, lol. (atleast 1 marketing, 1 dm, and 1 loss pervention person I am aware of so far lol) My company is all the better for it and like I said our products are nothing alike.

On a store level you wanna hire people who are passionate about your product and who are smart. On a game and model design level you want the same. But for corporate level jobs you want smart and experienced people, which requires money. To bad they are short sighted on it : /

Sorry went way OT


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If GW go a different way from the rest of the retail sector in the UK, I'm struggling to see how that's a bad thing, alas I've seen quite the opposite, with the staff being required to parrot mindless marketing gobbledegook at every customer in the queue and clamping down on any activity which isn't approved by HQ.

And don't say those two words again, the most heinous words in the English language; loss prevention Bunch of Little Pinochets and Napoleons the lot of them, the sort of people who gleefully embraced the Spanish Inquisition. I have never had an encounter with them that didn't make me nauseated.

As for the OP, it's not happened to me yet, but I've not tried recently at my local store. It's actually quite sad the way HQ treats the staff these days with releases; used to be they'd get at least a month's notice and a load of stuff to show off prior to each one to help sell, used to enjoy going in a few days before release and reading through the new 'dexes or checking out the staff painting projects; I went in to my local today and they said they'd only found out Empire were getting redone at last Saturday's staff briefing(they apparently toe the company line regarding online rumours and don't bother looking at sites like this, or so they claimed).

EDIT: As to the topic of damages; that shouldn't be an issue, every retailer with stock on shelves understands that a certain percentage of stock is going to be lost to browsing damage, accidental damage, and shoplifting. If you're running a store with stock on shelves and you aren't doing so, that's a failure on your part; customers browse, it's an accepted paradigm, so if you don't want them browsing, don't make the stock available; shrinkwrap the books, put them in an acrylic-fronted case, become Argos, whatever you like, but if you put stuff on shelves, especially stuff expensive enough that it isn't an impulse buy to most people, you should be expecting people to check the product out.

[Stephanavich]

A couple of weeks ago a local GW Store worker asked me to put the for-sale copy of the WoC book down, but subsequently handed me the store copy. No questions asked, except afterwards he explained that it was just to stop any damage to the books. I could certainly understand where he was coming from, and he was very nice about it. I then bought the book I had flicked through, kind of feeling bad (but I definitely wasn't pressured by the guy at the store - as I said, he was nice).

From now on, I'll always search for a store copy. Personally, I miss going to the store every week about a month in advance to see if the black box was in yet to try to get my hands on the book, and get a glimpse of some sprues. But after the Tomb King Release 11 months ago there haven't been any black boxes, and stores aren't allowed to handle the new releases until launch day (supposedly!)

[rmeister0]

I don't know if this is a US vs UK thing, but...

If you don't want customer looking inside the books, either a) shrink-wrap them, or b) keep them behind a counter.

If you put the books out on shelves people are going to expect to be able to leaf through them.

[Hellebore]

Very well done by your friend, very poorly done by the staff. There is something called insurance, this is why I never had to pay something I broke in the supermarket despite insisting on it. I learned about it during a part time job.

I don't know how it works in other countries but in Australia we have an excess charge that you have to pay on insurance claims. So car insurance might have a $500 excess charge. It basically means you only use insurance on extremely expensive damage, not minor damage (which is probably why the insurance companies use this, to prevent excessive claims).

So in Australia at least there's no way they'd claim insurance on that one item. I suppose they could collect all their damaged goods together and make a single claim, but that would have to be a pretty hefty amount and might not be a guaranteed thing. Too many claims generally results in higher premiums too. Insurance is basically a preemptive paid reminder - you give them money and then try really hard never to actually get it back. The consequences of doing so simply increase the money you pay.

Hellebore

[samiens]

It may not have been done in the best way but this seems like a perfectly reasonable request- on more than one occassion I've chosen not to buy books because they have been damaged before purchase. As mentioned normally GWs hav store copies but in very small stores or with in demand stock that might not be practical.
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[shelfunit.]

To repeat my earlier comment:

It is to prevent damage. The last thing a retailer wants is people leafing through all the books and damaging them. If you *need* to look in one before buying it, ask a staff member if you can "sample" it before your purchase. Ie, politely ask to look.

To repeat my earlier comment - Why would I buy from a shop blind when I could buy from the internet blind, but for a large discount? To make a purchase it always helps to know what you are actually buying and looking at the front and back cover rarely gives you adequate info - especially for something like an army book which is now £25.

Grab it and leaf through? Don't be surprised when someone tells you to put it down.

You appear to not have read the opening post - there is a big difference between "grab and leaf through" and pick up and gently turning the pages - I admit some people will swing open the cover and treat it poorly (more reason to have a shop copy) - but, welcome to retail - it happens sometimes.

Remember the old addage "the customer is always right"?

It should read: "The customer always thinks he's right. But hes not."

As the majority of TV programs have shown us, this is a bit obvious - but if you don't understand it you will lose business.

[Autumn Leaves]

It really depends on the store, some stores have a policy of if you are touching it then you better be buying it.
Other stores are cool about letting you look through items that you may or may not buy.
The bottom line is it is a retail outlet and if the items are on the shelf and can be picked up and perused etc. then they need to remember that this is what customers will do.
If the store doesnt want the copies soiled etc. then;
Either vacuum seal them and put them on the shelf or put the fresh copies out the back of the store in the staff only area and leave a store copy on the shelf for customers to look through.
Book stores leave their books out for people to pick up and read... thats how they get sales.
Being unfriendly to customers will only turn them off.

[samiens]

There's a logical fallacy to the point:

'as the book costs more people need to be able to touch before they buy'

Which is that as the book costs more any damage costs more to absorb- hence staff need to protect it more.

All I think is wrong here is the manner the situation was dealt with. If the staff member had said something like 'sorry, we've had a few books damaged lately so unfortunately im going to have to ask you to put it down, but ill happily tlk you through the book' would we be having this discussion?
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[6mmhero]

Like I said earlier this seems to have been a one off issue as GW's do embrace people picking up products and looking at them, if there is a store copy then great. Otherwise just be careful with the book when browsing. One of the reasons store copies are not on the shelves is that they look tatty etc.
Some people take the mickey with "browsing" but then that is part and parcel of having stock on the shelves. If you don't want people to browse or ruin stock then shrink wrap the books, just like the FW ones that come into stores.

[zoggin-eck]

Just take it up with the store owner. People really don't need to start a thread every time a staff member at a shop says or does something silly. May as well tell us about the bad service you got at a petrol station.

In this case, I don't see the bloke doing anything wrong. He told you there was no store open copy, and asked you to put the shelf one down. Perhaps he thought you were being rough with it, or perhaps he just didn't like the look of you. Sounds like you got some crummy service. I'd have been annoyed at the time, and I have in the past, but hardly worth writing here about.

[loveless]

My old store always had a store copy of the newest book to come out (and then they went in the "Store Books" box, so you could potentially look through any book you wanted (though the ones on the shelf weren't sealed or anything).

My current store doesn't care if you leaf through the books...but they also don't get in most of the new ones because GW products just plain don't move around here.

Regardless of how they do it, the store really should have some way of showcasing the new book. A store copy can't be that difficult to maintain - unless GW books are so expensive now that it's not profitable for a store to buy one just to keep